There is a known power feed tap (smart tap) that measures, with respect to each outlet that is to be connected to an electric device, the electric power supplied from the outlet to the electric device and that transmits each piece of electric-power information to a server. The server is capable of determining the power consumption of each outlet of the power feed tap on the basis of the electric-power information that is received from the power feed tap. Therefore, if the server has registered therein which electric device is connected to each outlet of the power feed tap, the details on how much power is consumed by which electric device can be obtained.
Conventionally, to register, in a server, which electric device is connected to each outlet of the power feed tap, the name, or the like, of the electric device that is connected to each outlet is manually input. Therefore, there is a problem in that a registration operation is complicated and that, if there are a large number of power feed taps that require registration, especially, in an office, or if a connection configuration of the electric device connected to the power feed tap is changed due to a residence change, or the like, a lot of work is required.
As a method for automatically determining the electric device that is connected to a power feed tap, as disclosed in, for example, Patent Literature 1, there is a known method of determining the type of electric device or the details of operation of the electric device by using the characteristic data of the waveform of the electric power that is fed from the power feed tap (power tap) to the electric device. In the system that is disclosed in Patent Literature 1, a sensor server determines the type of electric device that is connected to the power feed tap and the details of operation of the electric device by using the characteristic data that is transmitted from the power feed tap, attaches the time information to a determination result, and stores them as the action information of a user of the electric device in a storage unit.
However, in the system that is disclosed in Patent Literature 1, although the type of electric device that is connected to the power feed tap and the details of operation of the electric device can be determined, it is difficult to determine which electric device is connected to which one of the outlets of the power feed tap.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need to provide a device registration apparatus and a device registration method that make it possible to automatically register the association relationship among a power feed tap, an outlet thereof, and an electric device that is connected to the outlet.